Years ago, I burned up my laptop modem on a business trip in Holland, because I didn’t realize my hotel’s telephone system was

digital and my computer’s modem was analog.

After our company’s IT guru overnighted me a new modem card, I researched how to ask, “Is the telephone system digital or analog?” in the language of every country I visited.

Trouble was, few desk clerks or hotel managers had a clue. For a long time, accessing the Internet became a nightmarish game of Russian roulette every time I plugged into a phone jack. (By the way, the safest solution turned out to be using the hotel’s fax machine line, which I could always count on to be analog.)

Fortunately, those days of dial-up access are pretty much over. In most places both here and abroad, wireless access is standard fare. And even if your hotel doesn’t have it, a nearby cafe will.

No, the big dangers of traveling with a laptop these days are many of the usual ones: cyberthieves wirelessly accessing your system via an unsecured wireless connection, or criminals who roam airport lounges looking for unattended briefcases.

International travel, however, poses a number of additional problems that domestic travel doesn’t. Chief among them:

• Plugging into a power socket. Most laptops will run on a variety of currents (100-240 volts is the normal for most laptop adaptors; the U.S. uses 120 volts, Western Europe 230), but a standard American plug won’t fit ineo sockets around the world (Mexico, Canada and many Caribbean nations are exceptions and conform to American standards). Solution: Buy a set of international plug adaptors and keep them in your suitcase. Just buying a single adaptor for a visit to one country assumes you won’t have any last-minute itinerary changes. Getting the full set covers your bases. If you lose your adaptor or forget it, most good hotels will have them on hand for you to borrow.
• Border searches. Most countries — including the United States these days — allow customs officers to search your computer, including its hard drive and any portable drives you may be carrying. This can include insisting you decrypt any encrypted data. Solution: Clean off your hard drive before traveling. Use a secure data-removal tool to overwrite your hard drive to make sure it’s really gone. E-mail sensitive or proprietary data to yourself or upload it to an ftp site where it can be fetched once you’re past customs.
• Avoiding duty on your new laptop. If your laptop is reasonably new (less than six months old), U.S. customs officials may ask you to prove you didn’t buy it abroad. Solution: When traveling with a new laptop, take along a copy of a receipt or registration verification to prove where you bought the equipment.
• Finding a reliable ISP. Wireless Web access is fairly common these days, and as we said before, you shouldn’t have much trouble connecting from a hotel or some local cafe. But if you’re off the grid somewhat, it could be dicey to find secure access. Solution: A pricey air card from your mobile provider is one way to go. Barring that, visit Freedomlist.com, an impartial listing of ISP’s that reviews and will help you find free or cheap Internet access around the world.
• Backing up your data often. Because laptops are routinely lost, stolen or damaged during travel — and it may be a challenge to get reliable repair or data restoration abroad — regular  backup is a must. Solution: There are dozens of sites that offer free or very cheap file storage that you can upload your work to daily. For things like photos, use one of the many photo-sharing sites that allow storage and retrieval by simply going online. Store all your work in a single file so it can be easily and quickly uploaded at the end of each day.

Frequent international travelers: What other hints or tips can you think of that would make traveling abroad with a computer less of a hassle? Let us know in the Comments Box below.